For a few years, when I talk comics with my friends (Dan Malmon and my sister Jennifer in particular) when we discuss DC comics the observation we seem to agree on more than anything else is that what has been missing is this: fun, light and the hope. From all indications, Rebirth will be addressing this.
Now, I have been reading comics since the late sixties and buying them with my own money since the early seventies. I’ve gone through any number of crisis events and reboots. Through it all, I usually end up enjoying the comics DC has put out. Sure, there were some that left me dropping books from my pull list, but overall I kept reading.
When they announced the Flashpoint event, which led into the new 52, I was skeptical but open minded. Since that point I have enjoyed a lot of the comic.s There has been some really good story telling. But I didn’t get that buzz, that excitement, the way I did when I was younger. Crisis on Infinite Earths had me waiting outside a comic book store for the doors to open every time an issue came out. Identity Crisis was the same way. Green Arrow and Black Canary getting married had me giddy with excitement.
And then the new 52. Costume changes, back history ignored and the characters all starting to feel rather disenfranchised. The camaraderie was gone. The fun of knowing we would get a happy ending was gone. The hope seemed to be gone. The light was out.
Don’t get me wrong, I still loved what was going on in Batman. But it felt kind of like an elseworlds story that lasted years. Green Arrow and Black Canary didn’t know each other? Everyone seemed to be angry and distrustful. Angst was everywhere. That’s what I read Marvel for! I missed my DC universe being the place where there is hope and light.
Midnighter from Steve Orlando
“One good thing came out of it! Midnighter!”- Jennifer Jordan
Rebirth has been discussed a lot in the last few weeks and the night the first issue of the Rebirth books came out. There will, of course, be many tie-ins coming. Here’s what I see happening:
(there may be some spoilers, but no more than any of the comic sites have done)
Wally West has been caught in the speed force since Flashpoint. He is trying to find his way back and is looking for a touchstone – someone to remember him who can be an anchor.
His former team mates don’t remember him. The woman he knows as his wife doesn’t even know who he is. But eventually he finds Barry Allen. Barry is confused and Wally starts to fade away. At the last minute Barry calls out ,“Wally!” and grabs his hand, pulling him out of the speed force and back to the real world. Or is it?
Something or someone has been manipulating the fabric of reality and creating universes. I imagine the whole multiverse. Rumors on the internet say it’s Dr. Manhattan from Watchmen. We know the Watchmen characters are being brought in to the DC universe proper, we know the Superman we’ve been reading wasn’t actually “our” Superman, there are multiple Jokers on the loose, the original Ten Titans just remembered who they are.
And Wally points out that someone, “stole ten years from us”.
Now this is fun. And it looks like that is the plan, hope and light and fun are coming back. Like many things in comic of this nature I am sure some of these books will not work as expected, we’ll probably have a few surprise hits pop.
What I know for sure is I got a tingle up my spine reading Rebirth last night after I went out and bought it at midnight. If this is an indication of what’s to come from now on at DC, I will need more money because I’m going to need ALL THE COMICS.
Go drop $2.99 and pick up Rebirth, you’ll have fun and be glad you did.
